Whale rehabs at park

SeaWorld hopes to make discoveries about once-stranded Sully

SeaWorld senior research scientist Anne Bowles (right) and trainer Stephanie Jol work with Sully, a pilot whale. The whale was found dehydrated and starving in a bay in the Caribbean, then flown to SeaWorld.
— John Gibbins / UNION-TRIBUNE

SeaWorld senior research scientist Anne Bowles (right) and trainer Stephanie Jol work with Sully, a pilot whale. The whale was found dehydrated and starving in a bay in the Caribbean, then flown to SeaWorld.
— John Gibbins / UNION-TRIBUNE

Rescuers from SeaWorld took in the whale, which they named Sully, and helped him recover fully. Now, from the uncertain cause that brought him to San Diego, scientists and trainers hope to make many discoveries about pilot whales as Sully grows up.

Sully was found dehydrated and emaciated in a bay next to the Caribbean island of Curacao. The Southern Caribbean Cetacean Network treated him for about six months and then transferred him to SeaWorld, which has two other pilot whales, in January.

The marine-themed park chartered a FedEx cargo plane to bring the whale to San Diego. The trip cost more than $100,000, covered by SeaWorld’s Animal Rescue and Rehabilitation Program.

Sully’s caretakers in Curacao had tried to introduce him to other pods, but he always followed the boat back to shore.

“I don’t think he had this huge attachment for us. It was just that the last time he was in the ocean alone, it wasn’t working for him,” said George Kieffer, president of the cetacean network. “When it comes down to an individual animal working so hard to survive … he basically volunteered to be treated.”

A few trainers have suggested that Sully’s stranding resulted from his hearing deficiency, which the U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program tested by measuring his body’s electrical responses to various sounds.

Because little is known about pilot whales’ hearing, the Navy used one of SeaWorld’s other pilot whales as a baseline.

More months of analysis are required before the tests will yield reliable results, SeaWorld researchers said.

“These whales are prone to mass strandings” said Ann Bowles, a senior researcher at the Hubbs SeaWorld Research Institute. “Nobody knows why. This is one of the pieces of information that we can potentially get an angle on by working with animals that we can get our hands on and look at closely.”

Sully eventually will perform with Bubbles and Shadow — both female pilot whales — in SeaWorld’s Dolphin Stadium, which is being renovated and will reopen in May.

Until then, he shares a pool in the training facility with four male dolphins.

“What I like about what he’s got now, is that he’s got other animals to interact with,” Kieffer said. “Ultimately (Bubbles and Shadow) are really going to want to socialize with him, but they’re going to have that whole, ‘We’re a female team, you’re an outsider’ thing at first.”